Jeremiah 20:11-27:5
English Standard Version
11 But (A)the Lord is with me as a dread warrior;
therefore my persecutors will stumble;
(B)they will not overcome me.
(C)They will be greatly shamed,
for they will not succeed.
Their (D)eternal dishonor
will never be forgotten.
12 O Lord of hosts, who tests the righteous,
(E)who sees the heart and the mind,[a]
let me see your vengeance upon them,
for to you have I committed my cause.
13 (F)Sing to the Lord;
praise the Lord!
For he has delivered the life of the needy
from the hand of evildoers.
14 (G)Cursed be the day
on which I was born!
The day when my mother bore me,
let it not be blessed!
15 Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father,
“A son is born to you,”
(H)making him very glad.
16 Let that man be like (I)the cities
that the Lord overthrew without pity;
(J)let him hear a cry in the morning
and an alarm at noon,
17 (K)because he did not kill me in the womb;
so my mother would have been my grave,
and her womb forever great.
18 (L)Why did I come out from the womb
(M)to see toil and sorrow,
and spend my days in shame?
Jerusalem Will Fall to Nebuchadnezzar
21 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, when King Zedekiah sent to him (N)Pashhur the son of Malchiah and (O)Zephaniah the priest, the son of (P)Maaseiah, saying, 2 (Q)“Inquire of the Lord for us, (R)for Nebuchadnezzar[b] king of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps the Lord will deal with us according to (S)all his wonderful deeds and will make him withdraw from us.”
3 Then Jeremiah said to them: “Thus you shall say to Zedekiah, 4 ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: (T)Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands and with which you are fighting against the king of Babylon and against the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the walls. (U)And I will bring them together into the midst of this city. 5 I myself will fight against you (V)with outstretched hand and strong arm, (W)in anger and in fury and in great wrath. 6 And I will strike down the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast. They shall die of a great pestilence. 7 Afterward, declares the Lord, (X)I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people in this city who survive the pestilence, sword, and famine into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of their enemies, into the hand of those who seek their lives. He shall strike them down with the edge of the sword. (Y)He shall not pity them or spare them or have compassion.’
8 “And to this people you shall say: (Z)‘Thus says the Lord: Behold, (AA)I set before you the way of life and the way of death. 9 He who stays in this city shall die (AB)by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, but he who goes out and (AC)surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you shall live (AD)and shall have his life as a prize of war. 10 For (AE)I have set my face against this city for harm and (AF)not for good, declares the Lord: (AG)it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.’
Message to the House of David
11 “And to the house of the king of Judah say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, 12 O house of David! Thus says the Lord:
(AH)“‘Execute justice (AI)in the morning,
and deliver from the hand of the oppressor
him who has been robbed,
(AJ)lest my wrath go forth like fire,
and burn with none to quench it,
because of your evil deeds.’”
13 (AK)“Behold, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley,
O rock of the plain,
declares the Lord;
you who say, (AL)‘Who shall come down against us,
or who shall enter our habitations?’
14 (AM)I will punish you according to (AN)the fruit of your deeds,
declares the Lord;
(AO)I will kindle a fire in her forest,
(AP)and it shall devour all that is around her.”
22 Thus says the Lord: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word, 2 and say, (AQ)‘Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter these gates. 3 Thus says the Lord: (AR)Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And (AS)do no wrong or violence (AT)to the resident alien, (AU)the fatherless, and the widow, nor (AV)shed innocent blood in this place. 4 For if you will indeed obey this word, (AW)then there shall enter the gates of this house kings who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their servants and their people. 5 But if you will not obey these words, I (AX)swear by myself, declares the Lord, that (AY)this house shall become a desolation. 6 For thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah:
“‘You are like Gilead to me,
like the summit of (AZ)Lebanon,
yet surely I will make you a desert,
(BA)an uninhabited city.[c]
7 (BB)I will prepare destroyers against you,
each with his weapons,
(BC)and they shall cut down your choicest cedars
and cast them into the fire.
8 “‘And many nations will pass by this city, and every man will say to his neighbor, (BD)“Why has the Lord dealt thus with this great city?” 9 (BE)And they will answer, “Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God and worshiped other gods and served them.”’”
10 (BF)Weep not for him who is dead,
nor grieve for him,
(BG)but weep bitterly for him who goes away,
for he shall return no more
to see his native land.
Message to the Sons of Josiah
11 For thus says the Lord concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and (BH)who went away from this place: “He shall return here no more, 12 but (BI)in the place where they have carried him captive, there shall he die, and he shall never see this land again.”
13 (BJ)“Woe to him who builds his house by (BK)unrighteousness,
and his upper rooms by injustice,
(BL)who makes his neighbor serve him for nothing
and does not give him his wages,
14 who says, ‘I will build myself a great house
with spacious upper rooms,’
who cuts out windows for it,
paneling it with cedar
and (BM)painting it with vermilion.
15 Do you think you are a king
because you compete in cedar?
Did not your father eat and drink
and (BN)do justice and righteousness?
(BO)Then it was well with him.
16 (BP)He judged the cause of the poor and needy;
(BQ)then it was well.
Is not this (BR)to know me?
declares the Lord.
17 But you have eyes and heart
only for your dishonest gain,
(BS)for shedding innocent blood,
and for practicing oppression and violence.”
18 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:
(BT)“They shall not lament for him, saying,
(BU)‘Ah, my brother!’ or ‘Ah, sister!’
They shall not lament for him, saying,
(BV)‘Ah, lord!’ or ‘Ah, his majesty!’
19 With the burial of a donkey (BW)he shall be buried,
dragged and dumped beyond the gates of Jerusalem.”
20 “Go up to Lebanon, and cry out,
and lift up your voice in Bashan;
cry out from (BX)Abarim,
for all (BY)your lovers are destroyed.
21 I spoke to you in your prosperity,
but you said, ‘I will not listen.’
(BZ)This has been your way from (CA)your youth,
that you have not obeyed my voice.
22 (CB)The wind shall shepherd all your shepherds,
and (CC)your lovers shall go into captivity;
(CD)then you will be ashamed and confounded
because of all your evil.
23 O inhabitant of (CE)Lebanon,
nested among the cedars,
how you will be pitied when pangs come upon you,
(CF)pain as of a woman in labor!”
24 (CG)“As I live, declares the Lord, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were (CH)the signet ring on my right hand, yet I would tear you off 25 and (CI)give you (CJ)into the hand of those who seek your life, into the hand of those of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans. 26 (CK)I will hurl you and (CL)the mother who bore you into another country, where you were not born, and there you shall die. 27 But to the land to which they will long to return, there they shall not return.”
28 Is this man (CM)Coniah a despised, broken pot,
a (CN)vessel no one cares for?
Why are he and his children hurled and cast
into a (CO)land that they do not know?
29 (CP)O land, land, land,
hear the word of the Lord!
30 Thus says the Lord:
“Write this man down as (CQ)childless,
a man who shall not succeed in his days,
(CR)for none of his offspring shall succeed
(CS)in sitting on the throne of David
and ruling again in Judah.”
The Righteous Branch
23 (CT)“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. 2 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning (CU)the shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. (CV)Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord. 3 (CW)Then I will gather the remnant of my flock (CX)out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, (CY)and they shall be fruitful and multiply. 4 (CZ)I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord.
5 (DA)“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous (DB)Branch, and (DC)he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved, and (DD)Israel will (DE)dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: (DF)‘The Lord is our righteousness.’
7 (DG)“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when they shall no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ 8 but ‘As the Lord lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he[d] had driven them.’ Then they shall dwell in their own land.”
Lying Prophets
9 Concerning the prophets:
(DH)My heart is broken within me;
(DI)all my bones shake;
I am like a drunken man,
like a man overcome by wine,
because of the Lord
and because of his holy words.
10 (DJ)For the land is full of adulterers;
(DK)because of the curse (DL)the land mourns,
and (DM)the pastures of the wilderness are dried up.
(DN)Their course is evil,
and their might is not right.
11 (DO)“Both prophet and priest are ungodly;
even (DP)in my house I have found their evil,
declares the Lord.
12 (DQ)Therefore their way shall be to them
like slippery paths (DR)in the darkness,
into which they shall be driven and fall,
for I will bring disaster upon them
(DS)in the year of their punishment,
declares the Lord.
13 In the prophets of (DT)Samaria
(DU)I saw an unsavory thing:
(DV)they prophesied by Baal
(DW)and led my people Israel astray.
14 But in the prophets of Jerusalem
I have seen a horrible thing:
(DX)they commit adultery and walk in lies;
(DY)they strengthen the hands of evildoers,
so that no one turns from his evil;
(DZ)all of them have become like Sodom to me,
(EA)and its inhabitants like Gomorrah.”
15 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets:
(EB)“Behold, I will feed them with bitter food
(EC)and give them (ED)poisoned water to drink,
for from the prophets of Jerusalem
ungodliness has gone out into all the land.”
16 Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, (EE)filling you with vain hopes. (EF)They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. 17 They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, (EG)‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who (EH)stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, (EI)‘No disaster shall come upon you.’”
18 For (EJ)who among them has stood in the council of the Lord
to see and to hear his word,
or who has paid attention to his word and listened?
19 (EK)Behold, the storm of the Lord!
Wrath has gone forth,
(EL)a whirling tempest;
it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
20 (EM)The anger of the Lord will not turn back
until he has executed and (EN)accomplished
the intents of his heart.
(EO)In the latter days you will understand it clearly.
21 (EP)“I did not send the prophets,
yet they ran;
I did not speak to them,
yet they prophesied.
22 (EQ)But if they had stood in my council,
then they would have proclaimed my words to my people,
(ER)and they would have turned them from their evil way,
and (ES)from the evil of their deeds.
23 (ET)“Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? 24 (EU)Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. (EV)Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord. 25 I have heard what the prophets have said (EW)who prophesy lies in my name, saying, (EX)‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ 26 How long shall there be lies in the heart of (EY)the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, 27 who think to make my people forget my name (EZ)by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their (FA)fathers forgot my name for Baal? 28 (FB)Let the prophet who has a dream (FC)tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. (FD)What has straw in common with wheat? declares the Lord. 29 (FE)Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and (FF)like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? 30 (FG)Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who steal my words from one another. 31 Behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who use their tongues and declare, ‘declares the Lord.’ 32 Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares the Lord, and who tell them and (FH)lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when (FI)I did not send them or charge them. So they do not profit this people at all, declares the Lord.
33 (FJ)“When one of this people, or a prophet or a priest asks you, ‘What is the burden of the Lord?’ you shall say to them, ‘You are the burden,[e] and (FK)I will cast you off, declares the Lord.’ 34 And as for the prophet, priest, or one of the people who says, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ (FL)I will punish that man and his household. 35 Thus shall you say, every one to his neighbor and every one to his brother, ‘What has the Lord answered?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ 36 But ‘the burden of the Lord’ you shall mention no more, for the burden is every man's own word, and (FM)you pervert the words of (FN)the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God. 37 Thus you shall say to the prophet, ‘What has the Lord answered you?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ 38 But if you say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have said these words, “The burden of the Lord,” when I sent to you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’” 39 therefore, behold, I will surely lift you up[f] and (FO)cast you away from my presence, you and the city that I gave to you and your fathers. 40 (FP)And I will bring upon you everlasting reproach and (FQ)perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.’”
The Good Figs and the Bad Figs
24 (FR)After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken into exile from Jerusalem (FS)Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, together with (FT)the officials of Judah, the craftsmen, and the metal workers, and had brought them to Babylon, the Lord showed me this vision: behold, (FU)two baskets of figs placed before the temple of the Lord. 2 One basket had very good figs, (FV)like first-ripe figs, but the other basket had (FW)very bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten. 3 And the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I said, “Figs, the good figs very good, and the bad figs very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten.”
4 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 5 “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles from Judah, (FX)whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. 6 (FY)I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. (FZ)I will build them up, and not tear them down; (GA)I will plant them, and not pluck them up. 7 (GB)I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, (GC)and they shall be my people (GD)and I will be their God, (GE)for they shall return to me with their whole heart.
8 “But thus says the Lord: Like (GF)the bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten, so will I treat (GG)Zedekiah the king of Judah, his officials, the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who (GH)dwell in the land of Egypt. 9 I will make them (GI)a horror[g] to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be (GJ)a reproach, (GK)a byword, (GL)a taunt, and (GM)a curse in all the places where I shall drive them. 10 And I will send (GN)sword, famine, and pestilence upon them, until they shall be utterly destroyed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.”
Seventy Years of Captivity
25 (GO)The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), 2 which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: 3 “For twenty-three years, (GP)from the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, to this day, the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken (GQ)persistently to you, (GR)but you have not listened. 4 (GS)You have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear, although the Lord (GT)persistently sent to you all his servants the prophets, 5 saying, (GU)‘Turn now, every one of you, (GV)from his evil way and evil deeds, and (GW)dwell upon the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers from of old and forever. 6 (GX)Do not go after other gods to serve and worship them, (GY)or provoke me to anger (GZ)with the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.’ 7 (HA)Yet you have not listened to me, declares the Lord, (HB)that you might provoke me to anger (HC)with the work of your hands to your own harm.
8 “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words, 9 (HD)behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the Lord, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, (HE)my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction, (HF)and make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation. 10 Moreover, (HG)I will banish from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, (HH)the grinding of the millstones and (HI)the light of the lamp. 11 (HJ)This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and (HK)these nations shall serve the king of Babylon (HL)seventy years. 12 Then after (HM)seventy years are completed, (HN)I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, (HO)the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the Lord, (HP)making the land an everlasting waste. 13 I will bring upon that land all the words that I have uttered against it, everything written (HQ)in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. 14 (HR)For many nations (HS)and great kings shall make slaves even of them, (HT)and I will recompense them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.”
The Cup of the Lord's Wrath
15 Thus the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: (HU)“Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. 16 They shall drink and stagger and be crazed because of (HV)the sword that I am sending among them.”
17 So I took the cup from the Lord's hand, (HW)and made all the nations to whom the Lord sent me drink it: 18 (HX)Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and officials, (HY)to make them a desolation and a waste, a hissing and a curse, as at this day; 19 (HZ)Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his officials, all his people, 20 and (IA)all the mixed tribes among them; all the kings of (IB)the land of Uz and all the kings of (IC)the land of the Philistines ((ID)Ashkelon, (IE)Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of (IF)Ashdod); 21 (IG)Edom, (IH)Moab, and the sons of (II)Ammon; 22 all the kings of (IJ)Tyre, all the kings of (IK)Sidon, and the kings of the coastland across (IL)the sea; 23 (IM)Dedan, (IN)Tema, (IO)Buz, and all who cut (IP)the corners of their hair; 24 all the (IQ)kings of Arabia and all the kings of (IR)the mixed tribes who dwell in the desert; 25 all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of (IS)Elam, and all the kings of (IT)Media; 26 all the kings of (IU)the north, far and near, one after another, and all the kingdoms of the world that are on the face of the earth. And after them the king of (IV)Babylon[h] shall drink.
27 “Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: (IW)Drink, be drunk and vomit, fall and rise no more, because of (IX)the sword that I am sending among you.’
28 “And if they refuse to accept the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: (IY)You must drink! 29 For behold, (IZ)I begin to work disaster at the city that is called by my name, and shall you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, (JA)for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, declares the Lord of hosts.’
30 “You, therefore, shall prophesy against them all these words, and say to them:
(JB)“‘The Lord will roar from on high,
and from his holy habitation utter his voice;
he will roar mightily against his fold,
(JC)and shout, like those who tread grapes,
against all the inhabitants of the earth.
31 The clamor will resound to the ends of the earth,
for (JD)the Lord has an indictment against the nations;
(JE)he is entering into judgment with all flesh,
and the wicked he will put to the sword,
declares the Lord.’
32 “Thus says the Lord of hosts:
Behold, disaster is going forth
from nation to nation,
(JF)and a great tempest is stirring
(JG)from the farthest parts of the earth!
33 (JH)“And those pierced by the Lord on that day shall extend from one end of the earth to the other. (JI)They shall not be lamented, (JJ)or gathered, or buried; (JK)they shall be dung on the surface of the ground.
34 (JL)“Wail, (JM)you shepherds, and cry out,
(JN)and roll in ashes, you lords of the flock,
for the days of your slaughter and dispersion have come,
and you shall fall like a choice vessel.
35 No refuge will remain (JO)for the shepherds,
nor escape for the lords of the flock.
36 A voice—the cry (JP)of the shepherds,
(JQ)and the wail of the lords of the flock!
For the Lord is laying waste their pasture,
37 (JR)and the peaceful folds are devastated
(JS)because of the fierce anger of the Lord.
38 Like a lion (JT)he has left his lair,
for their land has become a waste
because of (JU)the sword of the oppressor,
(JV)and because of his fierce anger.”
Jeremiah Threatened with Death
26 (JW)In the beginning of the reign of (JX)Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the Lord: 2 “Thus says the Lord: (JY)Stand in the court of the Lord's house, and speak to all the cities of Judah that come to worship in the house of the Lord (JZ)all the words that I command you to speak to them; (KA)do not hold back a word. 3 (KB)It may be they will listen, and every one turn from his evil way, (KC)that I may relent of the disaster that I intend to do to them (KD)because of their evil deeds. 4 You shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord: (KE)If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law that I have set before you, 5 (KF)and to listen to the words of my servants the prophets whom I send to you (KG)urgently, (KH)though you have not listened, 6 then I will make this house (KI)like Shiloh, and I will make this city (KJ)a curse for all the nations of the earth.’”
7 (KK)The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. 8 And when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, then (KL)the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him, saying, “You shall die! 9 Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘This house shall be (KM)like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, (KN)without inhabitant’?” And all the people gathered around Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.
10 When (KO)the officials of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king's house to the house of the Lord and took their seat in the (KP)entry of the New Gate of the house of the Lord. 11 Then (KQ)the priests and the prophets said to the officials and to all the people, (KR)“This man deserves the sentence of death, because he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears.”
12 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and all the people, saying, “The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the words you have heard. 13 Now therefore (KS)mend your ways and your deeds, (KT)and obey the voice of the Lord your God, (KU)and the Lord will relent of the disaster that he has pronounced against you. 14 (KV)But as for me, behold, I am in your hands. Do with me as seems good and right to you. 15 Only know for certain that if you put me to death, (KW)you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and its inhabitants, for in truth the Lord sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.”
Jeremiah Spared from Death
16 (KX)Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, (KY)“This man does not deserve the sentence of death, for he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.” 17 (KZ)And certain of (LA)the elders of the land arose and spoke to all the assembled people, saying, 18 “Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and said to all the people of Judah: ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts,
(LB)“‘Zion shall be plowed as a field;
Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins,
and the mountain of the house a wooded height.’
19 Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? (LC)Did he not fear the Lord and entreat the favor of the Lord, (LD)and did not the Lord relent of the disaster that he had pronounced against them? (LE)But we are about to bring great disaster upon ourselves.”
20 There was another man who prophesied in the name of the Lord, Uriah the son of Shemaiah from (LF)Kiriath-jearim. He prophesied against this city and against this land in words like those of Jeremiah. 21 And when (LG)King Jehoiakim, with all his warriors and all the officials, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death. But when Uriah heard of it, he was afraid and fled and escaped to Egypt. 22 Then (LH)King Jehoiakim sent to Egypt certain men, (LI)Elnathan the son of (LJ)Achbor and others with him, 23 and they took Uriah from Egypt and brought him to King Jehoiakim, (LK)who struck him down with the sword and dumped his dead body into the burial place of the common people.
24 But the hand of (LL)Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah so that he was not given over to the people to be put to death.
The Yoke of Nebuchadnezzar
27 In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah[i] the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord. 2 Thus the Lord said to me: (LM)“Make yourself straps and (LN)yoke-bars, and put them on your neck. 3 Send word[j] to the king of (LO)Edom, the king of (LP)Moab, the king of the sons of (LQ)Ammon, the king of (LR)Tyre, and the king of Sidon by the hand of the envoys who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. 4 Give them this charge for their masters: ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: This is what you shall say to your masters: 5 “It is I who (LS)by my great power and my outstretched arm (LT)have made the earth, with the men and animals that are on the earth, (LU)and I give it to whomever it seems right to me.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 20:12 Hebrew kidneys
- Jeremiah 21:2 Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar, an alternate spelling of Nebuchadnezzar (king of Babylon) occurring frequently from Jeremiah 21–52; this latter spelling is used throughout Jeremiah for consistency
- Jeremiah 22:6 Hebrew cities
- Jeremiah 23:8 Septuagint; Hebrew I
- Jeremiah 23:33 Septuagint, Vulgate; Hebrew What burden?
- Jeremiah 23:39 Or surely forget you
- Jeremiah 24:9 Compare Septuagint; Hebrew horror for evil
- Jeremiah 25:26 Hebrew Sheshach, a code name for Babylon
- Jeremiah 27:1 Or Jehoiakim
- Jeremiah 27:3 Hebrew Send them
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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